Some New Yorkers and others around the country are up in arms about the so called "ground zero Mosque" that is going to be built close to the former world trade centers. I find it somewhat amusing that those who are so adamant about the government staying out of their lives would now clamor for that very same government to step in to block what is essentially a private real estate matter. "Less government interference" they scream (unless it involves Muslims, of course). "Keep the government out of my church" they bellow, (unless that place of worship happens to be a mosque).
I don't remember any religious outrage when a christian blew up the federal building in Oklahoma. That's not exactly true. There were a lot of calls for retribution against Muslims until it was discovered that it was a a couple of white Christian males who carried out the attack. I don't remember a general wave of outrage and hatred against all Christians. Perhaps I'm just (to quote our former President) misremembering.
Islam is just as legitimate a religion as all the others that are based on some all knowing superman who lives in the sky and actually listens to and cares about your problems. The actions of extremists should never be taken to represent the thoughts of the whole. There are Christian extremists who feel it is their right and duty to kill doctors who perform abortions. Should all of Christianity be held accountable for their actions? There are Christian extremists who think that all non whites should leave America. Should all Christianity be held accountable for their thoughts and actions? The constitution guarantees us certain freedoms, among those are freedom of religion and speech. The mosque has a right to exist and people have a right to protest its existence. However the hypocrisy of those who would damn an entire religion over the actions of a few is shameful. There are approximately 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. I'm pretty sure most of them were not involved in the 9/11 plot, just as I'm fairly sure most of the 2.2 billion Christians in the world weren't in on the Oklahoma City bombing either.
I understand that people are very sensitive about the WTC site, but this mosque has nothing to do with the events that took place on 9/11. As far as I'm concerned, all religion is pretty silly, so this debate over who can worship what God seems an incredible waste of time and energy. How far away from ground zero does the mosque have to be before it's okay? 10 blocks? 20 blocks? 1,000 blocks? Just utterly ridiculous.
3 comments:
Excellent post,Mycue. I'd missed the govt hypocrisy but that's par for the course with them.
I don't jump in when people criticize Christianity because to me religion is a private thing and everybody has a right to their views.
However I do take up for Islam when the criticism (often cascading into irrational hatred)isn't rational but rather xenophobic.
A poster may write objectively of events depicting Islam in a harsh light, and a portion of the comments is often of the "bomb Mecca" variety. When the poster is in attack mode the majority of the comments can be hate-based.
Even on the liberal sites the vicious hatred is often tolerated, joked about or even encouraged.
In my observation this doesn't happen with posts critical of Christianity, even those dealing with pedophile priests don't generate a call to bomb the Vatican or slaughter Catholics.
So this is why your post was so powerful, so refreshing. It was a pleasure and a validation to read man.
Thank you.
Very well put, Mycue23, and this post shows yet another glaring example of religious right hypocrisy found within the politically conservative ranks of this country!
Well I can't top those two comments.
Summed it up quite well for me.
Excellent Post.
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